The parties separated after a 32-year marriage.
Before the marriage, the respondent wife received shares in her father's business.
During the marriage, an estate freeze was executed, transferring the growth value of the shares to a new family trust settled by her father for $100.
The trial judge, feeling bound by prior appellate jurisprudence, excluded the wife's interest in the trust from her net family property as a gift after marriage.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal in part, distinguishing the prior case and holding that the trust interest was traceable to the pre-marital gift.
The trust interest was included in net family property, but the equalization payment was reduced to $18 million under s. 5(6) of the Family Law Act due to unconscionability.
Retroactive spousal support was ordered, but prospective support was denied.
The trial costs award against the appellant husband was upheld.
